Originally Posted by
Ozchinois
I also enjoyed my time at Naladhu, a much more private and more attentive service compared to the sister resorts. Think only a 20 min boat ride away.
And in my experience all the resorts allowed me a late check out up to 8.00pm or provided a smaller villa to stay for a few more hours.
My colleague was just at Naladhu and - if you're used to Aman-level stuff - didn't like it much at all - his comments summed up:
There are positives to the place as you say - the villas are HUGE and each with a private pool. No overwater villas, but they do have nice open views (on the quieter and open side of the island). Having said that, with no overwater villas, the resort also lacks 'beach' villas with private beachfront (there are only a couple of these). The design is simple and interesting enough but Kerry Hill, Ed Tuttle, Jean Michel Gathy it isn't.
The issue is that once you go to the other side of the island, it gets a big ugly. The two huge Anantaras are an eyesore. Yes you get to use their facilities and restaurants (and they can't come to Naladhu), but Naladhu itself is tiny so there really isn't much to do other than go to the other islands, kind of defeating the point of "private island"
Apart from convenience to Male (and even then), there are better resorts to stay at within easy access/reach.
Maintenance isn't great, service was okay but lacks attention to detail, especially for a resort that only has ~20 villas.